08 Mar 2021
Setting it Straight: COVID-19 vaccines and influenza vaccines - Part 1
When we say COVID-19 we’re talking about the disease caused by infection with variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The term ‘influenza’ (the flu), on the other hand, describes a respiratory syndrome caused by different influenza A and B viruses with, as mentioned last week, as many as four different pathogens being targeted by our annual influenza vaccines. As SARS-CoV-2 variants emerge we are, of course, concerned that the current COVID-19 vaccines based on the original spike protein – from the virus isolated in Wuhan back in December 2019 – will indeed protect against novel strains first identified in the UK, South Africa, Brazil and so forth. Still, the rate of SARS-CoV-2 mutation is low when compared with the situation for the flu viruses.